1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a guide for stacking containers on top of one another with the aid of a container derrick.
2. Description of the Related Art
The use of containers for transporting goods can to a large extent be considered to dominate today. Gathering together containers for filling or emptying thus requires increasingly greater space, which is the reason why containers are stacked on top of one another. In some container terminals, up to 12-13 units can be arranged in stacks. A small displacement of the containers in relation to one another can easily cause such a stack to topple over. Different attempts to make it easier for crane operators to place a container exactly above another container have been made. One solution to the problem is the use of a type of guide, so-called "stacking guides" arranged in the container derrick and comprising a type of telescopic arm that is lowered down along each short end of the container until each respective arm is about 10 cm below the bottom of the container. Cone-shaped corner guides are arranged at the lower ends of the arms and these are locked firmly in the lower corner boxes of the container. With parts that extend under the bottom of the container, the arms provide guidance of the container over the container below when the operator lowers the container down over the stack. This is a complicated procedure and due to fitting the cone-shaped parts of the arms into the corner boxes of the container, it is also time-consuming.
Through Swedish patent 8604144-9, arranging pivoting arms on a combination derrick intended to grasp under, for example, containers or trailers by means of heels in order to raise or lower them is known. With the aid of this mechanism used according to this patent, it is possible to achieve, as the invention is expressed in the characteristics section of the claims, a quick and simple guidance of a container for stacking this on top of another container.